Month: July 2024
Microsoft’s cloud revenues rule again in Q4, as Surface continues to dip
The Verge
Microsoft just posted the fourth and final quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $64.7 billion in revenue and a net income of $22 billion during Q4. Revenue is up 15 percent, and net income has increased by 10 percent.
Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud revenues, which include the company’s server products and cloud services, were $28.5 billion overall and up 19 percent year over year. Revenues from this part of Microsoft’s business now make up nearly 45 percent of all revenue. While cloud revenue is strong once again, Microsoft’s consumer devices push continues to dip. Xbox hardware revenue is down again, and Surface revenue has now declined for seven consecutive quarters in a row.
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Microsoft’s new Qualcomm-powered Surface devices.
Windows and Surface revenue
Windows OEM revenue, the price that manufacturers pay to license Windows for laptops and PCs, is up 4 percent year over year. Gartner said earlier this month that PC shipments had grown for three consecutive quarters, and that’s reflected in Microsoft’s Windows OEM growing in the same three quarters.
Microsoft also launched its new Copilot Plus PCs toward the end of fiscal Q4, with a variety of Qualcomm-powered devices available from June 18th onwards. Two new Surface devices, the Surface Laptop 7th Edition and Surface Pro 11th Edition, also launched in June. The full impact of sales on devices revenue won’t be felt until next quarter, though.
That means Surface revenue, or what Microsoft now calls devices revenue, has declined again this quarter by 11 percent. The last time Microsoft’s Surface revenue was up was in Q1 FY23, the quarter ended September 30th, 2022.
Microsoft switched up its hardware portfolio amid layoffs in early 2023, and the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 for businesses don’t seem to have had a big impact on revenues. All eyes are on next quarter to see if the new Surface Laptop and Surface Pro launches have helped devices revenue recover at all.
Image: Microsoft
A white discless Xbox Series X is coming later this year.
Xbox and gaming
Xbox content and services revenue, which includes Xbox Game Pass, is up by 61 percent this quarter. Activision Blizzard revenues have once again contributed to the majority of revenue here, with 58 points of net impact. Without Activision Blizzard revenues, Xbox content and services revenue will still have been up 3 percent year over year.
Microsoft revealed in February that Xbox Game Pass has now grown to 34 million subscribers, including the Xbox Game Pass Core (previously Xbox Live Gold) members. Microsoft is planning to launch a new Xbox Game Pass Standard plan soon, which is designed to replace the Xbox Game Pass for Console offering for new subscribers.
Microsoft just launched last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III on Xbox Game Pass, and it’s also planning to make Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the next installment in Activision’s popular franchise, available on Xbox Game Pass later this year.
Microsoft’s price hikes for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass don’t come into effect until September, with Game Pass Ultimate increasing to $19.99 a month — a $3 increase over the current $16.99 a month pricing. PC Game Pass is also moving up to $11.99 a month in September.
While there’s a lot of anticipation for new games on Xbox Game Pass, console sales are still struggling. Xbox hardware revenue is down a massive 42 percent this quarter. Microsoft is planning to launch a discless Xbox Series X console in white later this year, alongside a new Galaxy Black special edition Xbox Series X.
Microsoft has also been focusing on the message of “no Xbox required” for its cloud streaming efforts recently. Microsoft’s Xbox TV app recently arrived on some Amazon Fire TV devices, as Microsoft turns it attention away from just marketing console hardware.
Despite the poor Xbox hardware revenue, gaming revenue at Microsoft is up 44 percent overall, helped again by the additional Activision Blizzard revenue. In fact, that revenue added 48 points, so overall gaming revenue at Microsoft would have been down 4 percent if the company hadn’t acquired Activision Blizzard.
Image: Microsoft
Microsoft’s cloud businesses are doing well.
Microsoft’s cloud and Office revenues continue to grow, as expected. Office commercial products and cloud services revenue grew 12 percent, with Office 365 commercial revenue up 13 percent.
On the Office consumer side, revenue is up 3 percent year over year. Microsoft 365 Consumer subscribers also grew by 10 percent, up to 82.5 million now. LinkedIn revenue also grew 10 percent this quarter.
Server products and cloud services revenue jumped by 21 percent this quarter, with Azure and other cloud services revenue up by 29 percent. Investors continue to hunt down any signs of revenue growth in AI from Microsoft. This quarter, eight points of the Azure and other cloud services revenue growth is down to AI services, up slightly from the contribution in the previous quarter.
Microsoft is now planning to hold an investor call at 5:30PM ET / 2:30PM PT. We’ll update this article with comments from CEO Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood.
The Verge
Microsoft just posted the fourth and final quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $64.7 billion in revenue and a net income of $22 billion during Q4. Revenue is up 15 percent, and net income has increased by 10 percent.
Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud revenues, which include the company’s server products and cloud services, were $28.5 billion overall and up 19 percent year over year. Revenues from this part of Microsoft’s business now make up nearly 45 percent of all revenue. While cloud revenue is strong once again, Microsoft’s consumer devices push continues to dip. Xbox hardware revenue is down again, and Surface revenue has now declined for seven consecutive quarters in a row.
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Microsoft’s new Qualcomm-powered Surface devices.
Windows and Surface revenue
Windows OEM revenue, the price that manufacturers pay to license Windows for laptops and PCs, is up 4 percent year over year. Gartner said earlier this month that PC shipments had grown for three consecutive quarters, and that’s reflected in Microsoft’s Windows OEM growing in the same three quarters.
Microsoft also launched its new Copilot Plus PCs toward the end of fiscal Q4, with a variety of Qualcomm-powered devices available from June 18th onwards. Two new Surface devices, the Surface Laptop 7th Edition and Surface Pro 11th Edition, also launched in June. The full impact of sales on devices revenue won’t be felt until next quarter, though.
That means Surface revenue, or what Microsoft now calls devices revenue, has declined again this quarter by 11 percent. The last time Microsoft’s Surface revenue was up was in Q1 FY23, the quarter ended September 30th, 2022.
Microsoft switched up its hardware portfolio amid layoffs in early 2023, and the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 for businesses don’t seem to have had a big impact on revenues. All eyes are on next quarter to see if the new Surface Laptop and Surface Pro launches have helped devices revenue recover at all.
Image: Microsoft
A white discless Xbox Series X is coming later this year.
Xbox and gaming
Xbox content and services revenue, which includes Xbox Game Pass, is up by 61 percent this quarter. Activision Blizzard revenues have once again contributed to the majority of revenue here, with 58 points of net impact. Without Activision Blizzard revenues, Xbox content and services revenue will still have been up 3 percent year over year.
Microsoft revealed in February that Xbox Game Pass has now grown to 34 million subscribers, including the Xbox Game Pass Core (previously Xbox Live Gold) members. Microsoft is planning to launch a new Xbox Game Pass Standard plan soon, which is designed to replace the Xbox Game Pass for Console offering for new subscribers.
Microsoft just launched last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III on Xbox Game Pass, and it’s also planning to make Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the next installment in Activision’s popular franchise, available on Xbox Game Pass later this year.
Microsoft’s price hikes for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass don’t come into effect until September, with Game Pass Ultimate increasing to $19.99 a month — a $3 increase over the current $16.99 a month pricing. PC Game Pass is also moving up to $11.99 a month in September.
While there’s a lot of anticipation for new games on Xbox Game Pass, console sales are still struggling. Xbox hardware revenue is down a massive 42 percent this quarter. Microsoft is planning to launch a discless Xbox Series X console in white later this year, alongside a new Galaxy Black special edition Xbox Series X.
Microsoft has also been focusing on the message of “no Xbox required” for its cloud streaming efforts recently. Microsoft’s Xbox TV app recently arrived on some Amazon Fire TV devices, as Microsoft turns it attention away from just marketing console hardware.
Despite the poor Xbox hardware revenue, gaming revenue at Microsoft is up 44 percent overall, helped again by the additional Activision Blizzard revenue. In fact, that revenue added 48 points, so overall gaming revenue at Microsoft would have been down 4 percent if the company hadn’t acquired Activision Blizzard.
Image: Microsoft
Microsoft’s cloud businesses are doing well.
Microsoft’s cloud and Office revenues continue to grow, as expected. Office commercial products and cloud services revenue grew 12 percent, with Office 365 commercial revenue up 13 percent.
On the Office consumer side, revenue is up 3 percent year over year. Microsoft 365 Consumer subscribers also grew by 10 percent, up to 82.5 million now. LinkedIn revenue also grew 10 percent this quarter.
Server products and cloud services revenue jumped by 21 percent this quarter, with Azure and other cloud services revenue up by 29 percent. Investors continue to hunt down any signs of revenue growth in AI from Microsoft. This quarter, eight points of the Azure and other cloud services revenue growth is down to AI services, up slightly from the contribution in the previous quarter.
Microsoft is now planning to hold an investor call at 5:30PM ET / 2:30PM PT. We’ll update this article with comments from CEO Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood.
Apple stealthily adds minor features in iOS 17.6, macOS 14.6 releases
The M3 MacBook Pro now supports multiple external monitors.
Enlarge / iOS 17.6 installing on an iPhone 13 Pro. (credit: Samuel Axon)
Apple has some minor updates for all its operating systems, and the releases include iOS 17.6, iPadOS 17.6, tvOS 17.6, watchOS 10.6, and macOS Sonoma 14.6.
Apple’s notes for these updates simply say they include bug fixes, security updates, or optimizations. However, there are a few hidden features.
macOS 14.6 reportedly enables multi-display support in clamshell mode on the M3 MacBook Pro, allowing users of that device to use two external displays at once. That was already possible on the M3 Pro and M3 Max variations. Apple had previously released a similar update to bring that functionality to the M3 MacBook Air.
Norah O’Donnell to Step Down as Anchor of ‘CBS Evening News’
Ms. O’Donnell told colleagues that she had signed “a long-term commitment” to CBS News that will involve a new role that will include “big interviews.”
Ms. O’Donnell told colleagues that she had signed “a long-term commitment” to CBS News that will involve a new role that will include “big interviews.”
OpenAI rolls out advanced Voice Mode and no, it won’t sound like ScarJo
OpenAI has started rolling out its advanced Voice Mode feature. Starting today, a small number of paying ChatGPT users will be able to have a tete-a-tete with the AI chatbot. All ChatGPT Plus members should receive access to the expanded toolset by the fall of this year.
In an announcement on X, the company said this advanced version of its Voice Mode “offers more natural, real-time conversations, allows you to interrupt anytime, and senses and responds to your emotions.”
We’re starting to roll out advanced Voice Mode to a small group of ChatGPT Plus users. Advanced Voice Mode offers more natural, real-time conversations, allows you to interrupt anytime, and senses and responds to your emotions. pic.twitter.com/64O94EhhXK— OpenAI (@OpenAI) July 30, 2024
Support for voice conversations arrived last September in ChatGPT and the more advanced version got a public demo in May. ChatGPT-4o uses a single multimodal model for the voice capabilities rather than the three separate models used by its previous audio solution, decreasing the latency in conversations with the chatbot.
OpenAI drew a lot of criticism at the May demo for debuting a voice option that sounded uncannily like Scarlett Johansson, whose acting career included voicing AI character Samantha in Spike Jonze’s film Her. The release date for advanced Voice Mode was delayed shortly after the backlash. Even though the company insisted that the voice actor was not imitating Johansson’s performance, the similar-sounding voice was since taken out.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/openai-rolls-out-advanced-voice-mode-and-no-it-wont-sound-like-scarjo-200426358.html?src=rss
OpenAI has started rolling out its advanced Voice Mode feature. Starting today, a small number of paying ChatGPT users will be able to have a tete-a-tete with the AI chatbot. All ChatGPT Plus members should receive access to the expanded toolset by the fall of this year.
In an announcement on X, the company said this advanced version of its Voice Mode “offers more natural, real-time conversations, allows you to interrupt anytime, and senses and responds to your emotions.”
We’re starting to roll out advanced Voice Mode to a small group of ChatGPT Plus users. Advanced Voice Mode offers more natural, real-time conversations, allows you to interrupt anytime, and senses and responds to your emotions. pic.twitter.com/64O94EhhXK
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) July 30, 2024
Support for voice conversations arrived last September in ChatGPT and the more advanced version got a public demo in May. ChatGPT-4o uses a single multimodal model for the voice capabilities rather than the three separate models used by its previous audio solution, decreasing the latency in conversations with the chatbot.
OpenAI drew a lot of criticism at the May demo for debuting a voice option that sounded uncannily like Scarlett Johansson, whose acting career included voicing AI character Samantha in Spike Jonze’s film Her. The release date for advanced Voice Mode was delayed shortly after the backlash. Even though the company insisted that the voice actor was not imitating Johansson’s performance, the similar-sounding voice was since taken out.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/openai-rolls-out-advanced-voice-mode-and-no-it-wont-sound-like-scarjo-200426358.html?src=rss
This dangerous Android malware has been hiding on the Play Store for years — so make sure to check your downloads carefully
An updated version of Mandrake has been downloaded tens of thousands of times, Kaspersky warns.
An undetected variant of a known Android spyware was reprotedly hiding on the Google Play app store for roughly two years, infecting tens of thousands of devices, experts have warned.
A report from Kaspersky says that in April 2024, its researchers uncovered a “suspicious sample” which turned out to be a new variant of the dreaded Mandrake malware.
The new sample led the team to a total of five Android apps, which were available for two years, Kaspersky said. Cumulatively, these apps had more than 32,000 downloads. They were uploaded in 2022, with individual apps being available for download “for at least a year”, suggesting that not all were available at the same time.
Hiding in cryptocurrency and astronomy apps
Regardless, the malware was hiding in a Wi-Fi file sharing app, an astronomy services app, an Amber for Genshin game, a cryptocurrency app, and an app with logic puzzles. “As of July 2024, none of these apps have been detected as malware by any vendor, according to VirusTotal,” Kaspersky concluded, adding that Google removed them from its app repository in the meantime.
Mandrake was first spotted in 2020, when security analysts said that it was most likely active since 2016. It is a sophisticated malicious software that steals sensitive information, gains remote control over the device, and is capable of keylogging, capturing screenshots, and exfiltrating data from the devices.
The new variant came with advanced obfuscation and evasion techniques, which allowed it to remain undetected by security vendors. One of the techniques is the ability to shift malicious functions to obfuscated native libraries using OLLVM, to implement certificate pinning for secure communication with command and control (C2) servers, and to run extensive checks to detect whether it is is operating on a rooted device or within an emulated environment.
The malware was also able to bypass Google Play’s security checks, as well.
At the moment, none of the apps are available in Google Play, but while they were, most of the downloads were coming from Canada, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Peru, and the UK.
The attackers, Kaspersky suggests, are most likely of Russian origins, since the C2 domains are all registered there.
More from TechRadar Pro
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Global Computer Outage Impact Vastly Underestimated, Microsoft Admits
Microsoft has revealed that the global computer outage caused by a faulty CrowdStrike software update, which impacted numerous major corporations, affected far more devices than initially reported, with the tech giant stating that the previously announced figure of 8.5 million affected Windows machines represents only a “subset” of the total impact. Microsoft has refrained from providing a revised estimate of the full scope of the disruption.
The revelation comes as the technology sector continues to grapple with the fallout from the incident, which occurred 10 days ago and led to widespread disruptions across various industries, prompting Microsoft to face criticism despite the root cause being traced back to a third-party cybersecurity provider’s error. Microsoft clarified that the initial 8.5 million figure was derived solely from devices with enabled crash reporting features, suggesting that the true extent of the outage could be substantially higher, given that many systems do not have this optional feature activated.
Further reading: Delta Seeks Damages From CrowdStrike, Microsoft After Outage.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Microsoft has revealed that the global computer outage caused by a faulty CrowdStrike software update, which impacted numerous major corporations, affected far more devices than initially reported, with the tech giant stating that the previously announced figure of 8.5 million affected Windows machines represents only a “subset” of the total impact. Microsoft has refrained from providing a revised estimate of the full scope of the disruption.
The revelation comes as the technology sector continues to grapple with the fallout from the incident, which occurred 10 days ago and led to widespread disruptions across various industries, prompting Microsoft to face criticism despite the root cause being traced back to a third-party cybersecurity provider’s error. Microsoft clarified that the initial 8.5 million figure was derived solely from devices with enabled crash reporting features, suggesting that the true extent of the outage could be substantially higher, given that many systems do not have this optional feature activated.
Further reading: Delta Seeks Damages From CrowdStrike, Microsoft After Outage.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
AI search engine accused of plagiarism announces publisher revenue-sharing plan
Perplexity says WordPress, TIME, Der Spiegel, and Fortune have already signed up.
Enlarge (credit: Moor Studio via Getty Images)
On Tuesday, AI-powered search engine Perplexity unveiled a new revenue-sharing program for publishers, marking a significant shift in its approach to third-party content use, reports CNBC. The move comes after plagiarism allegations from major media outlets, including Forbes, Wired, and Ars parent company Condé Nast. Perplexity, valued at over $1 billion, aims to compete with search giant Google.
“To further support the vital work of media organizations and online creators, we need to ensure publishers can thrive as Perplexity grows,” writes the company in a blog post announcing the problem. “That’s why we’re excited to announce the Perplexity Publishers Program and our first batch of partners: TIME, Der Spiegel, Fortune, Entrepreneur, The Texas Tribune, and WordPress.com.”
Under the program, Perplexity will share a percentage of ad revenue with publishers when their content is cited in AI-generated answers. The revenue share applies on a per-article basis and potentially multiplies if articles from a single publisher are used in one response. Some content providers, such as WordPress.com, plan to pass some of that revenue on to content creators.
The SEC has charged an a16z and Sequoia-backed crypto startup founder with fraud
The founder of once-hyped crypto startup BitClout is facing trouble. On Tuesday, the SEC charged him with fraud and other offenses.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
The founder of once-hyped crypto startup BitClout is facing trouble. On Tuesday, the SEC charged him with fraud and other offenses.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.